In 1979, the counterattack against Vietnam lasted 28 days, and the results were very brilliant, occupying more than 20 towns in northern Vietnam, destroying many projects aided by our country that year, and achieving the initial combat objectives.
But to be honest, while our army killed a lot of Vietnamese troops, the casualties on our side were not small, especially the troops on the Eastern Front. Therefore, many people think that General Xu Shiyou, who is the commander of the Eastern Front, is not qualified, but we will understand that it is the most preferred when we look at the actual situation at that time.
In 1979, shortly after experiencing a special period, it was an important node of reform and opening up, and there must be a beautiful victory to stabilize people's hearts.
At that time, there was no better commander candidate than Xu Shiyou, looking at Xu Shiyou's resume, at the time of the Long March, he was the commander of the Red Fourth Army, and the Red Fourth Army was the absolute main force of the Red Fourth Front, and such an important node held this position, which was an affirmation of his combat ability.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he has been leading the troops to carry out revolutionary work in the Shandong area and has rich experience in struggle. During the Liberation War, he had more experience in leading troops, successively serving as the commander of the column and the commander of the Shandong Corps, insisting on fighting on the inner line of Jiaodong, and his performance in the Jiaodong battlefield was also very prominent, which directly reflected Xu Shiyou's ability.
In Huaye, most of the others were joint operations, and only Xu Shiyou was relatively independent, so in a sense, The combat ability of Xu Shiyou's large army should be second only to Su Yu's.
After all, the counterattack against Vietnam is no longer a war to resist US aggression and aid Korea.
In 1979, some of the generals who could fight well in the founding of the country had passed away, either leaving the army system or leading other branches of the army, and few people could serve as commanders of front-line large corps.
Xu Shiyou began to serve as the commander of the Guangzhou Military Region at the end of 1973, participating in the command of the Xisha self-defense counterattack. He was in the army for a long time before the start of the war, and he had command experience and was familiar with the army, so he could be said to be the best candidate for the commander of the Eastern Front.
Judging from the actual situation, there are still objective factors in the casualties on the eastern front than on the western front, and the Guangxi battlefield on the eastern front is closer to Hanoi, Vietnam, and once it breaks through, it will directly threaten Hanoi.
The Vietnamese army naturally understood this truth, so they deployed three times more troops on the eastern front than on the western front, and the combat area of the eastern front battlefield was also larger than that of the western front, and the Vietnamese army could use the terrain to fight guerrillas, causing great trouble to our army.
Xu Shiyou initially took into account the terrain factors and formulated another operational policy:
First annihilate the 12 Vietnamese strongholds near the border, then divide the enemy's 6 border garrison regiments, and finally find and annihilate the three main divisions of the Vietnamese army.
If he had played according to his plan, the steady pattern would have made the losses on the Eastern Front much smaller, but then the decision-making level denied this style of play.
Later the General Staff decided
Concentrate superior forces in depth and seek the main force of the Vietnamese army to fight a war of annihilation
。 In fact, the General Counselor was also a little helpless, after all, the pressure in the north was relatively large at that time, and it was more stable according to Xu Shiyou's method, but the time consumed was bound to be long.
After all, war still serves strategy, so Xu Shiyou can only reformulate tactics, and it can be said that no matter who is in command, he can only fight in this way.
Another important reason why the casualties on the Eastern Front are larger than those on the Western Front are the soldiers, and the main forces of the Western Front, the 13th and 14th Armies, have been stationed on the Sino-Vietnamese border for many years, and they are very strong in military quality and training.
Many of the troops on the Eastern Front were only briefly before the war, especially the 50th Army. At this time, most of the 50th Army had been transferred to production and engineering construction, and each infantry regiment of the 150th Division under its jurisdiction was a battalion of military all-signal units. When the war was about to come, the 150th Division was urgently expanded, and more than 6,000 people rapidly expanded to more than 11,000 people.
Finally, during the retreat, the 448th Regiment of the 150th Division was ambushed in the Naga area, resulting in the tragedy of 325 missing and 219 captured, which was the most humiliating battle against the Vietnamese counterattack.
As a commander, he is certainly responsible for such a fiasco, but is it a little unfair to put all the responsibility on him?
Judging from the final results, the Eastern Front killed more than 34,000 enemies, wounded more than 5,100 enemies, and captured more than 1,300 prisoners, while the Western Front killed more than 13,500 enemy, wounded more than 2,100 enemies, and captured more than 800 people, so the Eastern Front is the main battlefield, and the casualties are certainly greater than those on the Western Front.
In general, the results of the Eastern Front were due to various factors. As a commander, although Xu Shiyou did not reach the level of command that people admired, he was also decent, not as bad as some people said, and it was also the most preferred at that time.